Blog Posts by Subject: Art

Schomburg Treasures: WPA Photographs

The Schomburg Center's collection of WPA photographs is now available on the NYPL's Digital Collections site.

Macabre Imagery: Visual Representations of the Dance of Death

A new case exhibit on the third floor of the Library for the Performing Arts presents a small historical survey of the characteristic imagery and common features of visual representations of the dance of death.

Muse: Using the Library’s Picture Collection for Source Material

How do artists and designers find the images they use to spark their creativity? Source material, or the physical things that become elements of inspiration for artists, designers, writers, filmmakers, students, teachers, etc., is one of the happy reasons people visit the Picture Collection.

The 50th Anniversary of 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering and Experiments in Art and Technology, Incorporated (E.A.T.)

In celebration of its anniversary, a current case exhibit on the third floor of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts highlights materials related to 9 Evenings.

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing at 53rd Street Library

Any good youth services librarian will tell you creativity is a huge part of the day-to-day routine.

Searching for Art Resources from Home

Are you looking for art resources from home and don’t know where to begin? Try using one of these six recommended resources accessible outside the Library with your NYPL card.

Frida Frenzy: Art Projects and Kids' Books Inspired by Frida Kahlo

This summer we went through a mini Frida obsession in Francis Martin Library. After reading some books about her, we created paintings, collages, and small poems inspired by her work in our Art in the Library program.

The Last Nostrand Streetcar: Max Hubacher's New York Photography

A prolific amateur photographer and local historian, Hubacher documented New York City and its environs with a seemingly objective eye, the typed or handwritten captions on the verso of each photograph often markedly specific in terms of date and location.

Podcast #122: Laurie Anderson on Melville, Opera, and Mystery

Laurie Anderson is one of the great pioneers of American art, combining and redefining various media, including film, music, spoken word, and performance art.

Little Artists on 53rd Street

Little Artists encourages kids to be inspired by the work and life stories of master artists, and then create their own process-based art projects.

Schomburg Treasures: Writers' Program, New York City

Material relating to the WPA Writers' Program in New York City and the book The Negro in New York.

The Art Museum Underground

Did you know our subway and commuter rail stations, bridges, and tunnels are home to more than three hundred works of art?

Meet the Artists: Ann Schaumburger and Michael Pellettieri

A collaborative exhibition Paintings by Ann Schaumburger and Paintings and Prints by Michael Pellettieri will be on view at the Mulberry Street Library from April 7–21, 2016. I spoke with the artists recently about their work.

Experiments with the New York School of Poets

Our March poetry workshop discussed the New York School of poets, their influences, their style, and their writing habits as it captured the spirit of the 1950s and 60s in New York City. Taking some of these habits, we wrote poetry, trying for a slice of life or a walk down a New York street, using drips and splashes of collaged ideas.

Violet Oakley: An Interview with Dr. Bailey Van Hook

Dr. Bailey Van Hook recently published the first full-length biography of artist Violet Oakley. In this interview, she discusses her work and what made Oakley an interesting subject, as well as her research in our archival collections.

Live from the Reading Room: Aaron Douglas to Alta Sawyer Douglas

Today’s episode features a memorable love note from leading Harlem Renaissance painter, illustrator, and graphic artist Aaron Douglas to his wife and life partner Alta Sawyer Douglas, an esteemed educator and Harlemite.

Live from the Reading Room: Arturo Schomburg to Langston Hughes

Today’s letter features correspondence between Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and Langston Hughes. In the excerpt below, Schomburg speaks with Hughes regarding acquisitions for The Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints—the forerunner to today’s Schomburg Center.

Meet the Artist: Yuko K.

What's that ruckus we've been hearing in the Children's Room lately? A herd of elephants doing yoga?!

Inside the Conservation Lab: Three-Dimensional "Seal-Print"

Treating and re-housing Coronation of the Virgin by the Trinity.

Artist Q&A: Bobbi Beck’s Exhibition at the Grand Central Library

BOBBI BECK: FACING MYSELF is on view now through March 28.